Pickle All-Stars festival brings pros and celebrities to Ho Chi Minh

Vietnamese player Hoang Nam Ly and entertainer Huong Giang have launched Pickle All-Stars, a sports-meets-entertainment pickleball festival set for 17–18 January 2026 at the Lý Hoàng Nam Sport Club in Ho Chi Minh City. The two-day event mixes professional-level competition with celebrity matches, aiming to raise the profile of pickleball across Vietnam and attract players and fans from across Asia.

Organisers have laid out a mixed program designed to appeal to competitive players and casual spectators alike. Day 1 features Women’s Doubles 5.0, Men’s Doubles 6.0 and Mixed Doubles 7.5. Day 2 includes Mixed Doubles 5.5, pro-celeb men’s and women’s doubles and an Open Doubles bracket. The festival expects more than 300 professional and amateur athletes to enter the competitive brackets, plus roughly 24 guest artists, beauty-queen personalities and models slated for celebrity matches.

Practical entry details matter for players planning to compete. Registration is open until 13 January 2026, and athletes may enter up to two of the six categories. The organising committee will manage group-stage draws and allocation, so entrants should watch for final schedules and match assignments once registration closes. The format gives both seasoned competitors and rising players chances to test themselves in labeled divisions while also tapping into the event’s entertainment draw.

Pickle All-Stars aims to balance on-court integrity with showmanship, creating cross-sector collaboration between sports figures and public personalities. For local clubs and coaches, that blend offers visibility for training programs and a chance to connect players with broader media and sponsorship opportunities. For tournament directors across the region, the festival models how to program pro-calibre brackets alongside celebrity exhibitions without sacrificing competitive fairness.

Spectators can expect a festival atmosphere as well as solid doubles play. Celebrity matches are positioned to pull new audiences into the sport, while the Open Doubles and higher-rated divisions provide the serious, tactical exchanges pickleball regulars crave. The Ho Chi Minh venue also positions Vietnam as a growing hub on Asia’s pickleball map, signaling potential for more crossover events in the future.

The takeaway? Register by 13 January, choose your two priority events, and prepare for a weekend that serves up both competitive matches and crowd-pleasing exhibitions. Bring your best dink game, network with visiting players, and treat the celebrity slots as an opportunity to grow the sport locally.